The Futility of Hate, Obsession, and Stagnancy. Lessons from "God of War: Ragnarok"

 There are many kinds of stories. Those that entertain, those that pacify, those that inspire reflection, catharsis, real world change. A good story can change a person, literally. Consider classic examples of stories with extremely potent messaging. Grave of the Fireflies, Come and See, 12 Angry Men, 1984, The Jungle, Uncle Toms Cabin, Roots, the list of pieces of media that have effected real world change, big and small, is immense. Far too immense to cover. 

God of War: Ragnarok is one such piece of media.

    The narrative of GoWR is simply too long to be summarized in any reasonable stretch of time. So I will instead cover its core themes, laid out in the title of this post. First, the futility of hate. This story is full of hateful, vengeful individuals. Individuals wronged by the heroes, individuals wronged by the villain, individuals wronged by circumstance. These wronged individuals are driven by the pain of their loss, and indeed the hate that springs from that pain. Throughout the course of the games narrative, these individuals either learn to let go, or their hate consumes, and ultimately, kills them. The hate also fuels the inevitable march towards the games doomed conclusion, Ragnarok. 
    The second theme I noted was Obsession. The core villain of the game, Odin, is obsessed with knowing what comes after, for him and other gods. When mortals die, they go to afterlife planes. But gods? There is no answer for them. This scares him and fuels his obsession, his need to know. This goal of his is destructive, as he rips apart and ruins people, civilizations, entire realities in his search for an answer. His obsession ultimately see's him betrayed and killed. Once again, his Obsession also spurs on the dreaded Ragnarok.
    The last theme is Stagnancy. This is slightly harder to explain briefly. The easiest way to say it is that "If nothing changes, then nothing changes". There is a sequence in which the heroes of the story seek out the Norns, the fates of Norse mythos. In this encounter, they are told a hard truth. There is no fate. No grand design. No script, guiding all things. They (the Norns) only seem prescient because they can recognize the actions that others will take and the obvious ramifications. In essence, even if your motivation is in the right place, and you mean well by everything you do, if you're actions are the same as they ever are, if you cannot grow and change beyond how you think and who you stand besides, your end will always be the same. One who only knows violence as a solution to their problems will only ever receive violence in return. It will shape their "fate" as it were. Again, characters unwilling to truly change spur on the coming of Ragnarok. 

    This is a fantasy videogame. But the actual core substance of the story is anything but fanciful. You may never see a dragon in real life, but I can guarantee you know someone motivated by spite, someone driven by obsession, and someone who, despite their intentions, simply wont change for the better. We all do. Sometimes that person is us. In seeing the flaws of your own life, or the life of people you know play out in an allegorical game, you can come to recognize things as they actually are. Look above the comfortable ignorance that people so willingly enshroud themselves in and actually do something.